nickcarol

I'm in the progress of buying a holiday home near Turre in Almeria Province and am told the water supply is hard, causing substantial scaling etc. Does anyone have experience of buying and fitting a water softener ? if so any tips on brands, size, efficiency etc ?

dfjordan

I looked into this for the same reason then gave up after reading comments on the web of others that had done it and wished they hadnt. What the dealer doesnt mention is that you have to have water running through the softener all the time, and that in general terms you use 3 litres of water to produce 1 litre of softened water. That cost is over and above the filters that have to be replaced, and the electrodes if you use reverse osmosis.We decided it was cheaper and better to buy bottles of water to drink, and put up with hard water for washing.

Carmen14

The water supply changed last year in Turre and surrounding areas. I don't know how or why. The authorities never tell you, they just take your money!! We returned from a long trip home and it was immediately obvious. There was also a slight smell in the water, a bit like fluoride. I was always using anti-cal cleaners before around the sinks and taps, now I don't use it at all. There is no build up of calcium. In case you don't know there is free drinking water from several Fuentes in Turre and Mojacar, that comes from the mountains. Just fill your bottles up. We don't drink anything else.

MikeJ

This sounds more like desalination than softening!. We have an ion exchange softener which can handle 1700 litres per day. We regenerate about every 3 days and use about 20kilos of salt per month. I dont have a Spanish source for the softener but you could ship one over from the UK. They are an easy job to fit by a competent DIY er.

dfjordan

MikeJ, your system sounds much more reasonable. What make is it?

Fred James

We have a proper ion exchange softener like Mikej. It was installed when we built the house. The make is ATH which is easily available in Spain. Ours is the "Compact " model which cost around €700 about 12 years ago plus fitting which brought the price up to about €1000. There are smaller versions but it has worked perfectly for 12 years and takes a 25kg bag of salt about every month at a cost of well under €10.

Our water is very hard and it really is the only option. Sometimes, if I forget to top up the salt, you realise just how hard the water is!

Plumbing is pretty straightforward assuming you have the space to install it.

This is a link to their latest units ath aplicaciones técnicas hidráulicas sl – Robosoft 120e · 180e. Agua ligera y suave, manantial de vida en su hogar

MikeJ

Our softener is very like Fred's. It's an EML and cost around £300 in the UK.
Attached is a copy of the manual FYI.

dfjordan

thanks very much for the info; it was very useful

nickcarol

Thanks for your reply Carmen. We'll not bother now with looking at softeners until we've spent some time in the house. Whereabouts is the fuente at Turre ?

Carmen14

Oh also forget to say about the water and I know it's is not scientific, but I do get a better lather in my washing up water and when I wash my hair! Does that not mean it's softer...maybe. Good idea to wait until you get here and monitor the water. And see what you make of it. There are 3 Fuentes in Turre. 2 are up little streets somewhere at the top end of town. The main one is at the side of the town hall and local police station. But they are in the process of making a new bigger Fuente in the main town square, with seating, planted areas, better access for cars and people(disabled access too)Also a children's playground which will be bigger than the other. They are in the final stages now and it's looking good.